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Archiver > ABOUT-WORDS > 2001-10 > 1002464496


From: "Bruce Todd" <>
Subject: Naming the Nations
Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2001 10:21:36 -0400



I'm back -

By the by, I believe it is "les Etats-Unis", not "L'Etats-Unis"
in French. And as I recall from my French grammar in high school,
the acute accent isn't required to be written over the capital
letter "E" in "Etats". You will see accents written over capital
letters, but this is due to ignorance rather than proper
spelling.

Many months ago on this list, I voiced my objections regarding
the raping of place names and personal names by overzealous
linguists. Although a rose by any other name, could historical
places like Pearl Harbor conjure up the same emotions if it were
translated? Would we have the same mellifluous sounds if, instead
of saying Johann Sebastian Bach, we said John Botch as an English
translation of his name? I have always been an advocate of
retaining the official or christened name of anything or anyone
as closely as possible.


Bruce.



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